In a rush? Here’s how to charge your iPhone or Android battery as quickly as possible

There’s a reason that battery life has become the biggest determining factor for consumers looking to purchase a new smartphone: battery technology continues to progress far slower than other mobile tech. Companies developing new, more efficient batteries simply cannot keep up with the higher-resolution displays and other power-hungry technologies smartphone makers are stuffing into iPhones, Android phones and other handsets. As a result, vendors have been forced to create extreme power-saving modes that cut off most of a device’s functionality in order to extend battery life when the charge gets dangerously low.

It will likely be quite some time before we see any huge progress made in terms of smartphone battery life, but there are plenty of ways we can improve the performance of existing batteries in the meantime.

One thing we have never really discussed, however, is how to charge your smartphone as quickly as possible when you’re in a rush.

Keeping different phone chargers at home, in your office and at other locations you visit most often is a necessity. Having a car charger is important as well. But sometimes you find yourself in a rush with barely any charge remaining in your phone, and you have to recharge your handset as quickly as possible before you leave.

Phone Arena has put together a short guide with some good tips on how to charge your phone as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Some of the tips seem obvious, but users might not always think of them while in a rush. For example, you should always turn your phone off or at least enable airplane mode when you need to charge it as quickly as possible. This will ensure that power-hungry features aren’t slowing down the charging process.

Also, using a wall charger will always charge your phone faster than a USB port on a PC, though the guide notes that there are certain accessories that will help your computer charge your phone much faster if there is no wall outlet available.

For the complete list of charging tips and tricks, visit the link below in our source section.

UPDATE: As noted by a Twitter user in response to this post, iPhone owners should also consider using the iPad’s 12W power adapter instead of the iPhone’s 5W power adapter. Your iPhone will indeed charge much faster this way, and we have been using iPad chargers with iPhones for years without any issues.

@BGR@zacharye Toss the iPhone 5W charger & use 12W iPad Air charger. It’s the same price to replace. I use them for all devices.